Okabena-Ocheda Watershed District deals with mud clods at Prairie View; sets 2023 levy at $253,000
Sep. 9—WORTHINGTON — A small box of objects resembling muddy rocks revealed a tricky maintenance issue for the Okabena-Ocheda Watershed District Board of Managers Tuesday: the filters at the Prairie View project have been plugging up quickly.
The project, located at the site of the former Prairie View Golf Course, features water storage basins that filter silt and nutrients from water running off the land before it can reach Lake Okabena. As part of the filtration process, the water runs through sand, which removes particulates so that clean water comes out through the culverts.
"Our biggest issue is not necessarily the dirty water coming in. It's all the erosion that's occurring around the filter," said Watershed Administrator Dan Livdahl during Tuesday's board meeting.
Water is washing away some of the soil and silt on the banks and it is being deposited onto the filter, and when that material accumulates, it turns into a rock-like wad of impermeable dirt that water can't easily get through.
"Two years ago, ... I cleaned the whole thing, both filters off, by hand," Livdahl said. "And by the way, that's a lot of work, it's 24,000 square feet."
He showed the board a few of the one- to two-inch-thick hard, dried mud crusts.
"This was what most of the area was covered with," he explained. "... this is the dirt on the top. This is what we're trying to keep out of our water. This is what would end up in the lake."
Cleaning the material out is somewhat tricky because of the water and the crumbly nature of the silt wads, which can't just be pushed up to the banks because they'll dissolve back into the water and begin the hardening process again. Wheeled vehicles wouldn't get enough traction to be effective in the water, either.
After some discussion of how to go about cleaning up the sediment without damaging the ponds, the board unanimously agreed to hire someone for up to $1,500 to clean the sediment off the filters.
In other news Tuesday, the board:
* Certified a levy of $253,000 for 2023.
* Learned that the watershed had submitted a $970,312 grant application that would pay for most of the District 518 pond project. The local share of the project would be $242,548. The watershed district will likely not hear whether it receives the grant until October or November.
* Heard that illegal dumping has been a problem at Bella Park.
* Spoke about potential solutions for trash getting into Lake Okabena through culverts.
